Skip to main content

Semcon deploys autonomous snowploughs at Norwegian airport

Semcon has deployed 20 autonomous snowploughs to clear runways at Fagernes Airport in Leirin, Norway, which are said to clear an area of 357,500 square metres an hour. The machines, according to the company’s chief executive officer Markus Granlund, will allow airports all over the world to streamline activities and reduce delays for passengers. The project has been developed by Yeti Snow Technology and is co-owned by Semcon and Øveraasen, for airport operator Avinor. These systems are said to clear snow
March 26, 2018 Read time: 1 min

Semcon has deployed 20 autonomous snowploughs to clear runways at Fagernes Airport in Leirin, Norway, which are said to clear an area of 357,500 square metres an hour. The machines, according to the company’s chief executive officer Markus Granlund, will allow airports all over the world to streamline activities and reduce delays for passengers.

The project has been developed by Yeti Snow Technology and is co-owned by Semcon and Øveraasen, for airport operator Avinor. These systems are said to clear snow in formation with several vehicles working together.

John Emil Halden, Semcon’s project manager, said: “We have designed a control system that sets up digital patterns for autonomous snow clearance at airports. The system can then download these patterns and monitor a number of vehicles that navigate using RTK GPS, an accurate form of position measurement, and communicate using 4G modems.”

Related Content

  • ITF Corporate Partnership Board projects highlight ways forward
    October 29, 2014
    The findings of the first four projects launched by the ITF Corporate Partnership Board (CPB), the organisation's platform for engaging with the private sector, have been announced. CPB projects are designed to enrich policy discussion with a business perspective. They are launched in areas where CPB member companies identify an emerging issue in transport policy or an innovation challenge to the transport system. Led by ITF, work is carried out in collaborative fashion in working groups consisting of CP
  • Luna unveils ‘cm-level’ positioning for e-scooters
    October 30, 2019
    Dublin-based start-up Luna has released a telematic device which it says uses 10cm-level positioning accuracy to help scooter companies ensure their scooters are ridden and parked correctly. The device uses GNSS/GPS positioning with an integrated correction service to achieve this accuracy. It also uses machine vision and artificial intelligence (AI) to recognise parking spaces in GPS blackspots via 2D images (QR codes) located in and around the site, the company adds. According to Luna, the device aug
  • Automatic signal control to prevent emergency vehicle collisions?
    March 14, 2012
    Field trials under way in Arizona promise eradication of accidents between emergency vehicles at intersections – as part of a national focus on ‘intelligent signal’ infrastructure. Collisions between police cars, ambulances and fire crews as they reach intersections at the same time, with equal priority given by all signals set on red, are as serious as they sound absurd. For emergency teams and those in need of their help, the consequences are dire. The solution could come from application of connected veh
  • Traffic signal priority initiatives aid better bus travel
    March 15, 2012
    David Crawford investigates traffic signal priority initiatives developing for better bus travel on the US Pacific Coast Transit patronage rises by an average of 35% along commuter corridors equipped with bus rapid transit (BRT) systems, according to the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA). BRT as defined as bus transit enhanced with ITS systems for better services, is winning new passengers attracted by opportunity to avoid increasing fuel costs and traffic congestion.